The trailer of Stree 2 has spread cheer in the trade which has been hoping for the tide to turn in favour of the industry. Not just people in the trade but also members of the public are now waiting excitedly for the Stree (2018) sequel. And this gives one an assurance that the horror-comedy sequel is set to conquer the box-office.
The release of Stree 2 couldn’t have been better-timed. It will hit the screens on the national holiday of Independence Day. In spite of being an odd-day (Thursday) release, one can safely predict that its first day would end at Rs. 20-25 crore because it is a big holiday. And this in spite of the fact that there would be two more new releases — Khel Khel Mein and Vedaa — the same day. Since the following day (August 16, Friday) is a partial festival holiday for Parsi New Year, the collections could be in the region of Rs. 20 crore. Had it not been a holiday on Friday, one would’ve presumed the drop to be more marked. The benefit of the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) would accrue to the sequel on the third and fourth days, which could net at least Rs. 40-50 crore (total for both days). If that weren’t enough, the collections of Monday are expected to be equally bountiful because Raksha Bandhan festival falls on that day. So one can safely add another Rs. 20 crore for the fifth day of the 8-day week. In other words, the extended 5-day weekend could close at Rs. 100-115 crore! Add another Rs. 30 crore for the balance weekdays, and you have an 8-day week of Rs. 130-145 crore!!
All of which foretells that Jio Studios, Dinesh Vijan and Amar Kaushik’s sequel, starring Rajkumar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi and Abhishek Banerjee, could end up joining the Rs. 200-crore club in two or three weeks, and easily surpassing that figure by the end of its entire run. Of course, the above estimation of the net collections presupposes that the film is loved by the paying public. But until the film releases, there is no reason to think otherwise because of two main reasons: the trailer has done the trick; and also because brand Stree is huge!